Obama’s lonely road on energy

When it comes to America’s energy future, Pres. Obama seems determined to lead from the center.

But is anyone following?

Photo: Bloomberg

In his State of the Union remarks last night, Obama touted the success of his “all of the above” energy policy. He boasted of rising oil and natural gas production, declaring that the nation is closer to energy independence than it has been in years. He noted that tougher mileage standards for cars have cut the amount of oil we consume. He bragged about the explosive growth of solar power, with a new PV array installed somewhere in the country every four minutes. And he hammered home the need for cleaner energy sources to fight climate change.

“Taken together, our energy policy is creating jobs and leading to a cleaner, safer planet,” he said.

But neither the left nor the right particularly likes Obama’s approach.

Within the president’s restive base, many environmentalists have been lobbying Obama to abandon “all of the above.” They consider it a screen for more fracking and fossil fuel dependence. Obama, as usual, didn’t utter the words “fracking” or “hydraulic fracturing” anywhere in his speech. But he made it clear that he wants more of the natural gas that fracking produces.

“If extracted safely, it’s the bridge fuel that can power our economy with less of the carbon pollution that causes climate change. Businesses plan to invest almost $100 billion in new factories that use natural gas. I’ll cut red tape to help states get those factories built, and this Congress can help by putting people to work building fueling stations that shift more cars and trucks from foreign oil to American natural gas.”

His enthusiasm for gas frustrated and angered many environmentalists. May Boeve, director of 350.org, summed it up best:

“President Obama says he recognizes the threat of climate change, but he sure doesn’t act like it. If he was serious, he’d reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and stop promoting fossil fuels like natural gas. Fracking isn’t a solution, it’s a disaster for communities and the climate. You can’t say you care about ending cancer and then go buy a carton of cigarettes–and you can’t say you care about the climate and then go dig up more fossil fuels.”

Many conservatives, for their part, dismiss concerns about global warming as overblown or an outright hoax. The tend to view renewable power as an expensive sideshow and say the surge in fossil fuel production is the only domestic energy boom that matters. And they believe that boom has happened in spite of Obama’s policies, not because of them. Here’s the Heritage Foundation’s chief economist, Stephen Moore, writing Tuesday night on the think tank’s blog:

“Astonishing Obama has multiple times taken credit for the oil and gas boom. This is like the rooster taking credit for the sunrise. He and the EPA and Interior have done everything possible to crush this industry. Cap and trade. Energy taxes on oil and gas. And he even admits he wants new regulations on carbon-based energy – oil, gas, and coal. These are America’s fuels of the future.”

Responses from the oil and gas industries, in contrast, were a bit more nuanced. They certainly didn’t like Obama’s call to end their $4 billion in annual tax breaks and incentives, a point driven home by Marty Durbin, president of America’s Natural Gas Alliance.

“We continue to disagree with the president on how this industry’s tax provisions should be treated, but we stand ready to work with the Administration, Congress and policymakers around the country to see that our nation capitalizes on the many environmental, economic and national security benefits offered by natural gas.”

And while Obama’s support for domestic fossil fuel production rankled many on the left, some were just happy to hear him repeat his insistence on fighting climate change.

The president didn’t announce any bold new initiatives against global warming — few people thought he would. But Obama did emphasize his determination to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, a step eagerly sought by environmentalists. And he linked the drought gripping western states, California in particular, to a warming world. As Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, put it:

“President Obama sent a clear signal that action to address the climate crisis won’t be held hostage by the climate change deniers running the House of Representatives.”